Jared Leto To Star In Sony's Morbius The Living Vampire Spider-Man Spinoff [Updated]

Jared Leto is set to star in Sony's Morbius the Living Vampire. With so many comic book movies hitting theaters on a yearly basis, every studio is trying to create a universe of their own and find actors who can lead these hopeful franchises. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe still reigns supreme, it's received an extra shot of superpowers with Sony sharing Spider-Man. That deal doesn't bring everything under the MCU umbrella though, and Sony's adamant to pump out more Marvel-related projects. Venom kicks off their spinoff universe this year, but they've got much more planned.

One of the projects that has been the subject of discussion is a movie centered around Dr. Michael Morbius, a scientist who becomes a vampire after trying to cure his own disease. There hasn't been much news on the possible project, though, but now it is taking a major step forward.

Sony securing both Leto and Espinosa is a major step forward for Morbius and could make this a fast-tracked project. The script for Morbius is written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama. The duo most recently tackled Lost in Space for Netflix. Espinosa was previously in the running to direct Suicide Squad 2(a project that also would've had Leto attached), but it will be with Morbius that he finally gets to venture into the comic book movie world. Leto meanwhile is no stranger thanks to his work as the Joker, but it looks like this movie will take precedence over the rumored Joker standalone movie.

The Morbius movie does not yet have a release date, but it may just be a matter of time. Variety reports it is likely to start filming this year, making a 2019 release date very possible. Just how quickly Sony moves on this remains to be seen. They still need to launch Venom in October, so the response to that could dictate whether or not Morbius continues its quick development. But, with Leto reportedly having a hand in the director search, now that the two biggest pieces are in place, we could see the film actually start to move even quicker. Leto's band 30 Seconds to Mars finishes its tour in September and with no pressing film projects on Leto's schedule, he's certainly free to start on Morbius the Living Vampire this fall. As more details come in, we'll be sure to share the news.